Thursday, June 26, 2008

Roster Move: Mets Claim Phillips Off Waivers

Andy Phillips? Really? Well, the "Omar only loves Latins" contingent will have a hard time spinning this one, that's for sure.

I'm not sure what Andy Phillips brings to the roster of a team that aspires to win baseball games. He does bat from the right side of the plate and (until this season) was primarily a first baseman, so he theoretically could be used a platoon partner for Carlos Delgado. This would be a good thing if Andy Phillips could hit left-handed major league pitching, but he has shown a remarkable inability to do so throughout his career. He apparently also plays third base and second base in a pinch, which I suppose is a useful tool to have, but I don't think Phillips is any better than Damion Easley or Fernando Tatis. I'd rather have Stein, Lupus, Ogilvie and the Aguilar brothers on my bench than the cast of characters the Mets are employing in reserve.

So I'm not sure why Andy Phillips is here, but Robinson Cancel was sent down to make room for him. He never should've been with the big club in the first place, so I guess that's a good thing. Let's take a look at the active roster now:

Counsell can spell at all four IF positions--well. Hey, if Phillips can hit at or close to last year, then there is no issue here.

Counsell is only an example of the kind of player the Mets need, we've had this discussion before. A guy who can spell in the infield without a sever drop off in defense. swing the bat a little and steal a base from time to time. That guy is not on the Met's bench. Of course Counsell is getting on in years and his contract is more than I want to pay for him, but Phillips isn't a younger, cheaper version.

Val Pascucci's line at NO: .296/.420/587 with 14 HRs and 37 RBI in 54 games. The numbers he's putting up against lefties are just silly.

The steadfast refusal to promote Pascucci makes no sense to me. The only possible explanation I can think of is that they believe his defense is so Cust-like that his bat won't make up for his fielding deficiencies. Of course, a team that will give Marlon Anderson, Damion Easley or Fernando Tatis an outfielder's glove cannot possibly place a high premium on defense.

Delgado ain't exactly a gold glover at first either. It's the old falicy of the Proven Veteran. Although I'm not sure what he's proven, other than he can't hit major league pitching (that career OPS+ of 73 makes the mouth water, doesn't it?)